


Thunderstruck

by bubblewrapstargirl



Series: One Shots [26]
Category: That '70s Show
Genre: Character Study, F/M, Fix-It, Future Fic, Gen, Mentions of Major Characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-06
Updated: 2015-10-06
Packaged: 2018-04-25 03:27:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4944970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bubblewrapstargirl/pseuds/bubblewrapstargirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>thunderstruck;</p>
<p>/ˈθʌndəstrʌk/ : extremely surprised or shocked.<br/>-</p>
<p>Jackie receives an invitation, and it makes her think about her life with Steven, and how far they have come since those days in the Formans' basement.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thunderstruck

Jackie was sitting in her bedroom, a thin piece of lilac card in her hand. Frankly, it was ruining her day with its tacky proclamation. It was ridiculous that someone as successful and happy as her, Jacqueline Katherine Hyde, (a woman who had the good sense to change her horrid ex-middle name when she married), could be so thrown by such a silly little thing. But the stupid invitation in her hand was making her want to cry, and it was only eleven o’clock in the morning.

  
Jackie looked at the frilly blue alarm clock Steven had begrudgingly allowed her to keep in their room, suddenly horrified by the silence in the house. What had come of all her big plans, to get away from Point Place and have a successful TV and modelling career? Jackie had taken time off work after having their first baby, and before she knew it she was a full-time LOPP, organising bake sales and raffles and yard parties to raise money for deserving causes. She’d gone back to real work eventually of course, and she was now the face of Fez’s advertising campaign, for his chain of hair and beauty salons. There were giant billboards of her face all over Wisconsin. But it was hardly the global super-stardom Jackie had dreamt of as a child.

  
It was funny, because she didn’t even notice those dreams dropping by the wayside, when her life with Steven had finally gotten back on track. After Eric came home to win Donna back, he gave them they push they needed to sort their lives out. It was the reason they’d named their first child after him, in addition to making him baby Eric’s godfather. (As much as Jackie loved Fez and Michael, she didn’t exactly jump for joy at the idea of either of them raising her babies if she was gone - even though Michael was surprisingly good with Betsy. Besides, Steven would have frogged them both to death if she had even suggested it. He was funny that way.)

  
Steven had argued against having his babies ‘ _indoctrinated and brainwashed by the racist, sexist monopoly that controls the Anglican Church_ ’ as a matter of principle. He had only relented when Jackie had promised that she would never, ever drag him along to services with the babies... _except_ for when their babies were actually performing in the Nativity and such like. Steven himself had rarely been involved with anything to do with Church, or standing up in front of a crowd. But he remembered knowing Edna and Bud would never turn up, when he did. His first parents always had something better to do, like drink or gamble away all their rent money. Jackie knew Steven would never be that kind of parent, and it was part of the reason she loved him so much. No matter how much he grumbled with Red, he’d be right there with Jackie in their pew, clapping and smiling as their babies mangled ‘Away in a Manger’ under Pastor Dave’s enthusiastic direction.

  
With a wistful sigh, Jackie got up to wedge the invitation into the edge of the triptych mirror on her dresser. It was an antique, one of the only truly expensive, showy pieces of furniture in her home. She didn’t care that they couldn’t afford all the frilly, shimmery, classy decorations she’d had in her parent’s house. The Burkharts had built their empire on the suffering of others, and they didn’t even have the decency to spend some of their stolen free-time with their only daughter. They’d sustained their extravagant lifestyle with deception and fakery. And they’d tried to teach Jackie to be as shallow and callous as them. Every Thanksgiving, Jackie said she was thankful for having friends and family that had taught her what was truly important in life, and she meant it. If not for the Formans, Steven, Bob Pinciotti... who knew what kind of bitch she could have grown into? She shuddered at the thought of life without them.

  
She flopped down into the small stool in front of her dresser, taking a good look at herself in the clean reflective glass. Jackie had always been petite, tiny even - but these days she carried a little more weight around her thighs and hips and chin. Leftover baby weight from being pregnant three times. And now that she was really looking, she noticed every wrinkle that had appeared on her face in the last ten years. God, had it really been ten years? Where had the time gone? It seemed like just yesterday she was in the Forman’s basement, sat on Steven’s lap as they chilled in the circle. Now here she was, a wife and mother with a house and four little babies of her own.

  
Her eyes travelled over the reflection of her glossy black hair, her mismatched eyes, (which had always been one of her favourite features) and her famous pouting lips. She was still beautiful, of that there could be no doubt - she was still _Jackie_ after all. But it was a grown-up beauty now. She might be short, but she was no longer doll-like in her features. Staring at herself in growing worry, Jackie had the sudden absurd urge to call Steven at the store and ask him to call her ‘doll’. When was the last time he had done that? She couldn’t remember, and she quickly scrubbed away the angry tear that delicately trickled down her face. She still called him ‘Puddin’ pop’... but it was crazy way of looking at things and she knew it. Steven loved her, of that she was certain. It didn't matter what pet names he used, as long as he kept looking in that way that he did, proud that she was _his_.

  
There was no reason to be this insecure over a stupid little card. But it silently mocked her from its place wedged into her mirror. Jackie stood abruptly and stalked out of the room, not wanting to face it anymore. Her heels were muffled by the thick carpeting that ran throughout the house, so she wasn’t surprised to see that her daughter was still asleep in her little crib when she reached the nursery. Jackie had been up several times in the night and early morning to feed the newest addition to their family. They were both supposed to be having a little mid-morning nap right now, but looking at her tiny daughter, all soft and quiet in her bright pink onesie, Jackie needed to hold her. Eric was at school, the twins were with Grandma Kitty; it was just Jackie and her six month old daughter in the house.

  
But she resisted the urge to wake up her slumbering baby, and instead made her way downstairs to get herself a cup of coffee. On her way to the kitchen, Jackie passed through the living room, and found herself rooted to the spot by the large photograph of their family. She’d insisted they put it up on the wall over the fireplace. Steven had protested, of course, not wanting to buy into the ‘ _commercial, capitalist dogma of Keeping Up with The Joneses through material possessions and overt displays of affectation_ ’. But Jackie had barrelled right over him with a 50% off voucher for the fancy portrait shop in Kenosha, and the promise of an empty house with no interruptions if Steven wore a suit and no sunglasses. Needless to say, there was a lovely picture on her wall of the Hyde family in all their perfect glory; Steven’s tie was crooked, Eric was grinning up at his dad instead of the camera, the twins, Dylan and Beth, were gumming on their own hands, and little baby Katie was drooling in Jackie’s arms. It was perfect, and Jackie knew it made all their neighbours green with envy because it was so _real._ (It was also an endless burn that Jackie used to remind Steven who exactly had the best ideas, whenever he protested too much over anything regarding décor choices.)

  
She knew Steven secretly loved that photograph; the two of them looking radiant, surrounded by their four happy kids. It was everything neither of them had as children. They were both practically orphans, for all the care their parents had given them when they were little. Jackie had been raised by a string of nannies, and Steven had raised himself, despite Edna and Bud’s best efforts to sabotage his progress. Now here they were, with the Formans and W.B looking out for them, and they were _happy_. Jackie smiled, knowing that the invitation upstairs in her bedroom, to the Point Place High School Reunion, truly didn’t matter.

  
Once upon a time, she would have cared about turning up and wowing her ex-classmates with how beautiful and successful and famous she was, with a rich husband on her arm and two perfect doll-like children, back home in her mansion in California. Who knew she’d discover her one true love was burnout Steven Hyde, her dream home was really just an average suburban house in Point Place, Wisconsin (across the street from the Formans), and she was satisfied working intermittently, while being a housewife? And yet here she was, satisfied with the life she had built for herself, and she wouldn’t trade what she had with Steven for anything.

  
Not even a pet unicorn.

**Author's Note:**

> Thunderstruck, Thunderstruck, Thunderstruck, Thunderstruck  
> It's alright, we're doin' fine  
> It's alright, we're doin' fine, fine, fine
> 
> AC/DC, "Thunderstruck"


End file.
